Secrets of White-label PPC

OK, so you want to offer your clients pay-per-click but are unsure of the value in outsourcing it to a PPC agency. Convenience? Yep, that one’s an easy win. Cost? Yep, you’ll have to pay (sorry I couldn’t resist that one) but of course cost is relative to ROI, so you’ll have to figure out what constitutes success in monetary terms to properly answer that. Value? What does the white label PPC agency bring to the table?

If you are an experienced PPC campaign manager, you will be able to identify missing strategies, analytics potential, and tactics such as keyword selection, keyword matching options, Ad text & variations, campaign settings, landing pages, etc… and you will be able to tell your client how you can help them.

We often get asked to take over PPC campaigns on a white-label arrangement and there is a common theme to what needs to be fixed:

Strategy
No clear strategy
Doesn’t cover all products/services being offered
No integration with SEO strategy

Keyword Selection
Not enough long tail+ high converting phrases
Too many general keywords
Ad groups with confused keyword themes
Too many keywords per adgroup
No use of negatives

Campaign/Adgroup Structure
Structure does not mirror sitemap of website
No hierarchy of categories

Keyword Matching
Usually always broad match
Incorrect or ill-conceived use of matching options

Campaign Settings
Day-parting
Under spending budgets
Too many campaigns

Ads/Creatives
No call to action
No use of DKI in any of the ads
Either too many or not enough variations

Landing Page selection
LP is too generic – e.g. a homepage
LP has no conversion mechanism

Measurement
No long term tracking of cause-effect
No conversion tracking set up
No goals set in analytics

Conclusion:
There are many cost-saving and revenue-producing aspects of pay-per-click campaigns you may not have considered important. It’s vital that you understand the truth about an existing PPC campaign – and the pages to which its ads point, before you make promises to your client.

So, what is the secret? A: Honesty. A good white label PPC agency with high standards can help you set realistic expectations. Honesty is the best policy and the last thing you want to do is set yourself up for failure.